Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't

I'm still not happy with Obama's Afghanistan policy.  He's going to get attacked from the left and the right, and deservedly so.  Eight years of the status quo isn't working.  Steve at NMMNB seems to think that because he's getting beat on by everyone over this, that he's successfully triangulating.

Wow, what could be more perfect if you're trying to be a post-partisan, split-the-difference president? Yesterday, Barack Obama had Michael Moore attacking his Afghanistan troop buildup from the left, in an open letter posted on his Web site ("If you go to West Point tomorrow night ... and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, ... you will do the worst possible thing you could do..."), and today, as he's about to announce that Afghanistan policy, he's being slammed from the right (on Afghanistan and other issues) in Dick Cheney's Politico interview ("Every time he delays, defers, debates, changes his position, it begins to raise questions: Is the commander in chief really behind what they've been asked to do?").

At the White House, I think they're quite happy. They can say they're being attacked by extremists on both sides. Yippee! This is how they think it's all supposed to work.

Alright, I can see the point that this strategy will earn Obama some Sensible Village Centrist cred.  Like it or not, the Village isn't going anywhere, and they love this crap.

The real problem is that Obama doesn't need it.  What he needs to do is the right thing and get out of a war we've been losing for eight years.